BG 10/25 Marx/Althusser

In the Marx and Althusser readings, I came across a few concepts that I found particularly interesting.

From Marx: “Just as our opinion of an individual is not based on what he thinks of himself, so can we not judge of such a period of transformation by its own consciousness; on the contrary, this consciousness must be explained rather from the contradictions of material life, from the existing conflict between the social productive forces and the relations of production.” (pp. 37)

This quote gave me a different perspective on the various ways one can approach the study of postmodernity. Rather than just attempting to define the postmodern era in and of itself, it is easier to observe the “conflict between the social productive forces and the relations of production.” This may be a stretch of those terms, but rather than trying to define an entire cultural era, we can attempt to observe prevalent ideological conflicts and the contemporary hegemonic power structure (and how various sects of this structure interact), and then identify trends and patterns within these systems. These trends and patterns would thus characterize the period in which we live and lead us close to a way of defining and describing our spot in history.

From Althusser: “…ideas…which seem to make up ideology do not have an ideal or spiritual existence, but a material existence… an ideology always exists in an apparatus, and its practice, or practices. This existence is material.” (pp. 45)

This is a concept that I missed when we read Althusser in CMC 100. The notion that ideology exists in a very real and tangible form changed my perception of what ideology is. Before I thought of ideology as ideal and thought-trends that established and maintained hegemony; I did not fully make the connection between ideology and ideological state apparati. Now I understand that ISA are the physical manifestation of ideology and thus ideology is material. This concept of ideology as material makes Althusser a lot less depressing. ISAs are tangible and thus mutable. It is still very difficult to change the way a culture is structured and ordered, however, a physical and tangible oppressor is easier to combat than one that exists purely in an ideal state (ingrained in our brains, and fully outside of our control).